"Diary of my Trip to Philadelphia": Freemasonry and political journalism in Hipólito José da Costa's mission to the United States

Abstract

Hipólito Jose da Costa became known as the director of the Correio Braziliense or Armazém Literário, a newspaper he published during his exile in London from June 1808 to December 1822, and by means of which he played an important part in the Brazilian political emancipation process. A practically unexplored episode in his biography was the philosophical travel that he took to North America, at the age of 24 and recently graduated from the University of Coimbra in Portugal. Hipólito's mission, from October 1798 to the end of the year 1800, resulted in the development of an urban and quite singular experience for a naturalist traveler. Based on his travel's diary and other writings which documented his journey in the United States, this article focuses on the influence that political press played in his representations concerning American society and states that his entry into the Philadelphia freemasonry represented a turning point in his career.